Chapter 28
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Martin was still in his bed tossing and turning. He was fuming that what had started out as a pleasant phone call could suddenly go so terribly bad. He knew he had no right being hurt – he was the one who ended it with Sam, sent her a gift so obviously fraught with meaning and then turned her down again. She had every right to be pissed off. He had no business acting so defensively and petulantly but she had to have known that telling him about how she spent Christmas Eve with Jack was below the belt.
"It's Christmas! It's Christmas! Wake up, it's Christmas!" His nieces shouted as they ran down the halls trying to wake everybody up so they could open gifts.
He sighed and closed his eyes, reminding himself that this was a holiday and his family didn't need to see him walking around like a wounded puppy licking his wounds. So he pushed his thoughts of Sam aside and put on that brave Fitzgerald façade. There was a knock on the door and a second later it burst open and two little girls dressed in pink and purple pajamas jumped on his bed shouting, "Wake up, uncle Marty! Wake up, it's Christmas!"
Martin kept his eyes closed, pretending to still be asleep and not having heard them. Amy and Olivia tried shaking him awake and shouted gleefully, "It's Christmas!"
While his eyes were shut tight his cover was blown because he couldn't help but smile. The two girls were laughing and trying to wrestle him out of bed when Parker, still dressed in her robe, leaned against the doorjamb smiling and her husband Curtis stood behind her and shouted, "Come on girls, you can take him!"
The two girls laughed and shook him until he finally surrendered and said, "Alright, I'm awake!" Martin opened his eyes to find his nieces looking bright eyed and bushy tailed. He leaned up and the girls bounced off the bed so he could get up. Martin searched for his socks, putting them on before starting to the door dressed in his flannel pajama bottoms and a t-shirt.
"Did Santa visit last night?" He asked his youngest niece, Amy, as they headed downstairs.
"YES!" Amy shouted with the enthusiasm befitting a four-year old.
"He did? Did you and Olivia see him?" he gasped as he followed a bemused Parker and Curtis who were chatting with their older daughter.
"No," she replied slightly sad before looking up at him and hopefully saying, "But Olivia said next year we're going to build a trap so we can catch him."
"I don't know about that. If you trap him how will he be able to deliver all his gifts to the other kids?" Martin queried.
"Um…" she replied looking quite perplexed. "I don't know. I'll go ask Olivia." Amy ran ahead and started talking to her wiser, older sister.
He looked down the hall and saw his mom and dad slowing filtering into the hall and said, "Good morning."
Katherine smiled and replied, "Good morning." While Victor just nodded his head and gave a little wave. Victor was definitely someone who needed his cup of coffee in the morning before he was fit to be around humans.
As they all shuffled into the living room he saw that Reese and Scott were already downstairs. Reese was leaning against Scott, who was holding a baby monitor in his hand. They looked over at everyone filtering in and said in unison, "Morning."
Forty-five minutes later every gift had been unwrapped and the girls were knee deep in toys and clothes. The adults were one their second cup of coffee and chatting about their gifts. Martin sat on the floor with his back to the sofa while discussing golf with his brother-in-laws and the new set of clubs Curtis got when Amy leapt up and yelped, "Mom! Uncle Marty's present!"
Parker replied, "Oh, yeah. Do you want to go get it?" Amy nodded and started down the hall. "Olivia, please go help your sister."
Curtis stood up and said, "I better go too just in case."
Martin looked over at Parker and asked, "I get another present and it requires three people to go get it? Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"
His older sister didn't say anything but just smiled at him mischievously. He was about to ask what the present was when he heard his nieces shouting, "Milo come back! Milo!"
He leaned over so he could peer down the hall and saw a chocolate Labrador running straight towards him. The big dog came right up to him and began sniffing and licking before turning his attention to everyone else in the family as well as the piles of gifts. He turned to his sister and asked, "You got me a dog?"
"Yes!" Both his nieces shouted as they played tug of war with the furry brown beast.
Parker leaned in close to Martin and said, "Yes, I did. My neighbor, Mr. Schwartzman has to move to retirement community since his wife's Alzheimer's is worsening. He couldn't take Milo and wanted to know if I knew anyone who would make a good owner and I thought of you."
He cocked his eyebrow and said, "Me? Your brother who works long hours…"
"My brother who keeps insisting that he wants to get married, have kids and a dog. Yes, you. First of all, you can't keep saying you want those things and never doing anything about it. Plus, Milo is a great dog who will keep you company until the other stuff comes along."
"Not to mention dogs are a total chick magnet," Curtis added.
"Mom, what's a chick magnet?" Amy asked from where she sat trying to keep her new dolls out of Milo's mouth.
"Yeah, Curtis, feel free to explain that one," Parker commented frowning at her husband.
While the rest of the family was distracted by Curtis trying to give the definition of a 'chick magnet' to his 4-year old daughter, Milo wandered back over to Martin.
Milo was an undeniably beautiful dog. He had shiny brown fur and big brown eyes. Martin scratched him behind the ears and the dog's tail began wagging wildly before he collapsed, draping himself across Martin's legs.
Martin wished humans could find happiness that easily.
